Lighten Up Your Content with Cartoons

When I have been writing a book, the information becomes dense and the storytelling could become a little thin. How do you lighten up the content for your reader? While you will have to make sure it is the right situation, in many cases you can use cartoons inside the book to meet this need.

Where do you find cartoons? When I attended Mega Book Marketing University several years ago, Mark Victor Hansen used a number of cartoons in his presentation and recommended that writers use the New Yorker Cartoon Bank. This resource has remarkable cartoons but I would encourage you to look into the cost of these cartoons in a book. The last time I checked it was around $300 each--which was beyond my budget for Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams.

If you are in this situation, where do you turn? I used a well-worn resource: Google and a bit of patience and persistence. I discovered this May 1, 2002 newsletter from Dan Poynter. It listed four additional sources:

"C. CARTOON SOURCES. Freelance bureaus such as APCA (http://www.apcatoon.com) Cartoon Resource (http://www.cartoonresource.com) Creative Moonlighter (http://www.creativemoonlighter.com) Elance (http://www.elance.com)."

As I evaluated these various resources, one of them stood out for my situation and budget: Cartoon Resource. This place has thousands of cartoons from different artists and the cost was $10 each cartoon or affordable. My Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams book has 20 chapters so I used a cartoon related to the contents in every other chapter or 10 different cartoons. If you would like to see one of my cartoons, then follow this link to the book page number 22 (page 20 in the PDF) or click the book image below:

As you check this sample, make sure you notice two new additions to page 5 and page 22. I've added clickable buttons to take you right to the page to get your own copy of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. This book will give your own writing life the boost it needs for this coming year.

Sell More Books On Amazon

Last November at the Florida Writers Association, I participated in an editor / agent panel before the whole conference. I took one of the end positions in a table across the front of the stage. Brent Sampson sat next to me. I listened carefully as he spoke during the panel and his comments rang with experience and wisdom despite his youthful appearance. It was the first time I'd ever heard of Outskirts Press where Brent is the President and CEO.

Since that conference I've looked around Outskirts Press. Brent and his team have produced some solid marketing tools and information for writers. Whether you use his services or not to produce your book, it's well worth knowing about from my view.

If you want to learn to sell more books on the largest online bookstore on the planet called Amazon.com, then I recommend you get a copy of Brent's book, Sell Your Book On Amazon. He practices his own techniques and writes with the voice of experience and authority. With step-by-step insight, he will teach you the secrets of moving more books through Amazon.

While the words on the cover of this book positions it for print-on-demand and self-publishing authors, I see this information has a broad application for writers with traditional publishers. No matter who publishes your book, the author needs to take a proactive stance in the marketing arena and use all of the possible tools at their disposal to garner sales and attention. Sampson has provided great tools and information in this book for any author. If you are rushed to read this book (as many of us), the author introduces the tactic ranking system where he rates the various Amazon marketing techniques according to how valuable they will be in terms of generating profits for the author. Even if you take thirty minutes a week to practice some of these tools, you will increase your visibility on Amazon and that visibility is the first step to additional sales. I enjoyed Sell Your Book On Amazon and will be referring to it often in the days ahead. Brent has served the whole writing community with this effort.

Speaking of someone who serves the writing community, next month Mark Victor Hansen will lead another Mega Book Marketing University in Los Angeles. As I can personally tell you, these Mega Events are unlike any other conference for writers. I highly recommend it. If you want to get a taste of the speakers and Mark then check out the free preview calls. I listened to the first one last night. It's another way to grow as a writer right in your home.

The tools like Sell Your Book On Amazon are readily available. I'd encourage you to faithfully grow and use them in your own writing life.

Conquer Your Gadget Fear

As our technology improves, each of us have new gadgets to learn and new computer programs to figure out. Sometimes I'll admit that I'm as reluctant as the next person to change something which is working and not broken. The old is comfortable and we resist learning something new. Whenever I face such a situation (and it happens often), I attempt to plunge in and learn from it.

For example, yesterday I managed to use my quick tap and connect it to my Speech Recording R-9 Recorder that I purchased from Mike Stewart at Mega Book Marketing University. I've used my recorder a great deal--but not the quick tap which connects my phone to the recorder. I got the quick tap from Mike but there were no directions which isn't surprising since Mike has been hooking up these sorts of things for many years. A quick Google search found some instructions. I tried it and still could not get it to work. I had to call the company and get a tech on the phone. My problem turned out that I wasn't using a plain handset phone. You can't use the quick tap with a handset which has a keypad. When I changed out my phone and hooked up the wiring, it worked perfectly. Something simple was preventing me from using this device.

Last month, I looked into changing my cell phone for the first time in several years. I'm on Verizon, one of the largest carriers in the U.S.. My wife and I both have the exact same phone. I learned about a free function called Back Up Assistant. You have to download the program on your phone and set up an account on the computer with Verizon (password and pin stuff but simple). Why do you want to use Back Up Assistant? Because once a week, it automatically backs up all of your cell phone data on the Verizon computers. If your phone gets lost or destroyed (hey it happens), you have not lost your information.

There are even greater benefits to use Back Up Assistant. While I can do it, I’m not eager to text in someone’s name for a new phone number. I'd rather type it on my computer or cut and paste it into place. With Back Up Assistant, you can enter phone numbers on your computer, then update your address book and send those numbers to your cell phone. I've got my phone and my wife's phone both set up with this system.

Last week, I got a new cell phone number for a family member. My wife wasn't even at home but I logged on to her phone book, added the number and sent the new information to her phone--without even telling her. It's handy technology that's sitting right out there for you--if you have a Verizon phone.

Most of us would prefer to stay with the tried and true but there are some huge advantages if you go with the changes and conquer your reluctance.

Soak In The Information

These days I don't spend much time in my car. Because I don't have a long drive to get to my workplace, my time in my car is often limited to a few minutes each day when I drive to my mailbox and return home. That time amounts to about 30 to 45 minutes a day or not much time. I've been in jobs where I've had a much longer commute in the car but even on a short drive, there is an opportunity to soak in information--if you choose to take this path.

I could be listening to the radio, music or something else. Instead, I've been listening to the Mega Book Marketing University 2006 tapes--a conference which I did not attend but I know many of the speakers personally. I've met Susan Driscoll, president of iUniverse on several different occasions but until I reached her presentation at Mega I had never heard her speak to a group. Her insight was fascinating. You can catch some of her information about publishing on her iUniverse blog and I liked this entry about returns (something most book authors never think about but is a critical part of the overall process in traditional publishing).

My idea for you with this entry is to look for short bursts of time when you can soak in some burst of information. For example, follow this link for Mega Book Marketing University 2007 in Los Angeles yet look at the special offers in the top right column. Some of these sessions are several years old yet the insight and information is still valuable--yet substantially discounted. I continue to learn a great deal from these older tapes and hope you will as well.

Take Marketing Responsibility

Communication snafus are everywhere. It happens for many reasons and most often it's a lack of communication or the assumption that something is happening when it is not happening. For example, in the book publishing world, it takes a lot of work for a writer to get a publisher interested in their idea and concept. The writer has to learn the craft of writing and build credibility through writing magazine articles or ebooks or other media to build their credentials and abilities. Finally they craft a book proposal and get a publisher to issue a book contract. Their book is released into the marketplace. Because the publisher has invested a large amount of money and energy (and the writer has as well), the writer assumes the publisher will market the daylights out of their book and sell many copies. Now my last sentence is full of wrong assumptions. Publishers do want their books to sell and be successful but they count on a partnership with the author to get the word out about the book, build buzz and sales for each book. Some times it happens in the early stages and other times it builds to a loud clamor in the marketplace.

My encouragement for every author is to take responsibility for their own marketing. Let's assume the traditional publisher will have good distribution (which in some cases is an assumption). Your book has entered the market and is widely available through distributors, sometimes in the bookstores and can easily be purchased at the major online places. It is not a time for the author to sit back and work on their next book (well maybe some of the time but not all of it). The author needs to continually take responsibility for their own marketing--even if they have had measures of success in the past. The public quickly forgets.

Last week I received a book proposal from an author who is eager for me to represent the project. The marketing section is two paragraphs and all fluff with the major responsibility on the publisher. I groaned the minute I looked at it because this author will need a huge amount of education on my part before this person can put together an attention-getting marketing effort. Yes, this person has had mega sales in the past but it will not necessarily transfer to this new direction and this new proposal. To believe it will transfer, the author is operating on a false assumption which may fall completely flat.

I'm personally limited about what I can put in these entries about the writing life. I have the same 24 hour constraints that you operate under. I’m going to give you some resources and places to turn. First, make plans to attend a Mega Book Marketing Event. They are coming to many different places around the country and the next one will be in New York City later this month. Unfortunately I am not going to be able to attend this event but it looks great. If you can't go, then make sure you listen to the free preview calls and gain the insight of the speakers. Either listen to them live when they happen or listen to them after the fact through the replay buttons. This training is absolutely free and valuable to any writer no matter where you are in the journey. You can learn from these experts.

Also John Kremer, the Book Marketing expert, is having a free teleseminar this week. It's another free and valuable resource.

In other entries, I've written about Debbie Macomber, one of the leading romance novelist and someone that I know personally. There is a fascinating article about Debbie in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Here's a writer who has over 70 million books in print and is on the current New York Times bestseller list. She has not assumed her publisher will market her books and is taking a continual active role in this process. Notice the article points out that Debbie has a mailing list with 75,000 readers--and not a list she has purchased but people who have contacted her personally. I'm one of these readers and I get emails from time to time from Debbie. Every writer should be working on developing their list of readers. I've got my free Right-Writing News. Several times a month, I will email this list with single letters around a particular product that I am recommending. Then once a month, I will send a regular newsletter which is full of how-to-write articles. In the back issues (which are only available to subscribers—and free), readers have access to over 400 pages of information. I am continuing to work at growing my list and expanding it. If you have no idea how to write a newsletter or what to say, I'd encourage you to follow the links and learn about it, make a choice and get started. It's another way for you to take responsibility for the marketing of your own books.